It looks like those sleazy payday loan(sharks) won't be getting so much cash out of military members according to this report.

Interest rates on payday loans to military service members would be limited under an agreement reached yesterday by House and Senate Republicans.

The measure, imposing a 36 percent cap on the annual interest rate for payday loans to service members or their spouses, will be included in the defense authorization bill. The House passed the authorization bill yesterday, but it stalled in the Senate.

"We need to enact these new protections for our troops and their families because a growing predatory lending problem has impacted our operational readiness," said Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo., who pushed the measure in the Senate.

Talent and other lawmakers said payday lenders target military personnel, offering quick cash advances at outrageously high interest rates that trap unsavvy borrowers in a cycle of debt.

Payday lenders offer short-term loans against borrowers' paychecks and charge fees. Borrowers who can't repay the loans by the next payday often "roll over" the loan repeatedly, leading to more charges.

The average annual percentage rate for payday loans is about 390 percent. As lending fees pile up, borrowers can end up paying an annual rate of 800 percent or more.

The 36 percent is still too high, but the other problem is that this only affects members of the military -- the working poor are still victimized by the 800 percent-plus interest rates.

Industry officials say payday loans provide financial assistance to soldiers in need, and they contend that military personnel will be forced to seek high-cost loans from unregulated Internet lenders.

“We are extremely disappointed that the conferees have chosen to take away valuable financial choices from service members,” said Darrin Andersen, president of the Community Financial Services Association of America, which represents more than half of the estimated 22,000 payday industry outlets.

It's amazing what absolutely no conscience can enable you to say. The crooks companies Andersen represents charge 800-plus percent and they're "worried" about "unregulated Internet lenders"? Crocodile tears, I'm sure.